Design

This blog’s coming at ya from the brain of possibly the coolest person at Inbound – Nadya Khoja. I mean, seriously, I want to be that cool when I grow up. But I’m OK if it doesn’t happen. Nadya talked about a topic that’s hot for social media marketers and content marketers alike – viral content. First off, let’s talk about what viral means. Viral content is something that gets a lot of engagement and shares. Not more than your usual content kind of sharing, but like the whole internet…

As design trends come and go, material design is the latest that has caught the attention of designers and developers alike. In this article you will not only learn what material design is, but how this latest UI design philosophy aims to merge the fundamentals of graphic design with the science of motion and light to provide a solid foundation when building a UI. When Google unveiled its mobile design guidelines called “Material Design” at the 2014 I/O developers conference, it was received with mixed emotions across the design and…

Last week, The Metropolitan Museum of Art unveiled its new logo that was promptly met with an onslaught of opinions and feedback from designers and the museum’s patrons. The design community is historically notorious for visceral reactions to rebranding efforts, and the reaction to The Met’s logo unveiling was no different.

“Creative block” is a term all too familiar to many of us working in creative professions. Unfortunately we tend to make the very easy and all too common mistake of convincing ourselves we’re not creative. If you’re an artist, designer, or similarly in a position of constant demand for the imagination, you’ve learned to rarely succumb to the ominous voice of self doubt – or at least that is what you like to tell people. The truth is humans are inherently creative and some of us are better at taking…

Dear Webmaster, Site Owner and/or Marketing Agency Responsible For Committing UI Atrocities, Let’s talk. Recently I visited your fancy website from a mobile device while trying to read/ buy/ do/ put off something. To be clear, when I say “mobile device,” what I really mean is that I wasn’t on my laptop. I was using my smartphone/ Wii U gamepad/ PlayStation/ tablet/ really cool nerd watch; I was not using the Nokia 3310. Unfortunately, I must report that I had a horrible mobile experience. I left feeling frustrated, scared and…

I am, admittedly, not great with change. I hold onto things – objects and emotional scars – for far longer than would be deemed healthy. It’s something I’m working on. But as odd as I am, I am not entirely unlike your customers and your users. Your customers, also, don’t always love change. It’s scary and new. But they’re better at accepting it when the change helps them. When it’s an improvement and a step forward. When it makes their life easier and helps them swear at their technological device…

In the creative agency realm, it’s hard to imagine two areas of expertise more closely married than content and design. From direct mail to billboards, website creation to digital marketing and everything in between, the two are intertwined, constantly influencing one another in what we call ‘communication design.’ Luckily, more and more, agencies are allowing these specialities to work together in an integrated manner – and the results show it. Beginning with the Message When we begin a creative project, content typically starts the fire, fueling understanding for design. Ideally,…

In print and online, typography is expressive, just as much as (or sometimes more than!) imagery. The right choice of fonts for your website can reflect the voice and tone necessary to tell your story, while the wrong choice can garble your message. Your fonts can grab readers’ attention, or turn them away before they get through a complete sentence. There are a number of things to consider when selecting a font for your website. Know Your Audience’s Legibility Needs And Attitudes Knowing your audience is critical to any marketing…

I want to start by saying I love being a designer. I do. But since graduating college, I have been fighting a never-ending battle, one that often starts with constantly hearing the same line: “design should be easy. You just pick a color and font.” Sigh. The truth is most are not aware of the power of good design services. They don’t understand that by selecting the right colors and the right typography you can pull a mood from someone. You can create a need for a product that wasn’t…